Light fixtures or luminaires are commonly used in a variety of commercial and residential settings. While many types of luminaires exist, one popular type is a recessed luminaire. One advantage of a recessed luminaire, depending on the design, is that the majority of the structure of the luminaire may be mounted in the ceiling or wall so that it does not noticeably extend beyond the mounting surface, thereby providing an appearance with limited visibility of constituent components when the luminaire is installed.
A luminaire being installed in a ceiling is typically installed by first mounting a housing, or support panel, to a one or more ceiling supports so that the housing is aligned with the planned surface of the ceiling. This alignment process can be difficult as the actual surface is not there when the housing is being aligned. Next a surface material, which may be drywall, drop ceiling tiles or any other suitable surface material, is installed after the housing of the luminaire is installed. To allow the luminaire to function, a hole is provided in the surface. Often a trim plate with a flange is attached to the housing so as to cover up an edge of the hole, as well as internal components of the luminaire.
Upon installation of a luminaire, one or more adjustments me be made to an orientation and/or angle of a constituent light source. Current luminaires make it difficult to aim the light source (otherwise referred to as a bulb or lamp) while the luminaire is on; as such, adjusting the aim often requires turning the power off, partially disassembling the luminaire, making an adjustment in the light source aiming assembly, reassembling the luminaire and then turning the power back on to see if the adjustment correctly aimed the light source in the desired direction. This process is made more troublesome if one or more lens and/or filters are used to shape the light emitted from the light source because often the lens and/or filters need to be carefully orientated. As a consequence, such an aiming process may be tedious, time consuming, and expensive; however, the ability to adjust one or more of an orientation and/or an angle of a light source of a luminaire allows said luminaire to provide a variety of lighting effects in addition to down lighting, such as accent or wall-wash lighting.
Therefore, a need exists for improvements in luminaire design, including improvements in one or more mechanisms for aiming a light source associated with the luminaire.